Kinshasa was a village on the south bank of the Congo when Stanley passed through in 1877. He returned in 1881 and established Leopoldville on the banks of contemporary Kintambo and Ngaliema. A post was opened upriver at Kinshasa in 1883. In 1923 Leopoldville was named the capital, comprising both Kinshasa and Leopoldville, established at Kalina (now Gombe), while "old" Leopoldville remained the capital of the Province. The Leopoldville-Kinshasa agglomeration was renamed Kinshasa in 1966.

TRANSLATE

Monday, January 27, 2014

In February 1959, the new International Airport at Ndjili opened
to much fanfare. Replacing the original Ndolo airport (See Apr. 27, 2013), the new facility was
celebrated as one of 14 in the world capable of handling jet aircraft and offering,
at 4700 meters, the longest civilian runway in the world.The product of a decade of work, it was
designed by Leon Marcel Chapeaux, who also produced buildings at Brussels
airport as well as Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.The extensive complex, which cost $17 million, was connected
to Leopoldville by a 4-lane superhighway named for King Leopold III (now Blvd.
Lumumba), which served also in its extension as the gateway to eastern
Congo.In addition to its
practical purpose as an updated transportation hub, the airport was intended to
demonstrate Belgium’s accomplishments in its African colony.

Ndjili Airport Terminal

Ndjili Airport Tower from rear

The site was located on a sandy plateau five kilometers long
parallel to the Congo River, requiring minimal grading and with small streams
at either end to facilitate drainage.Notwithstanding its distance at 20 kilometers from Leopoldville, it was
a perfect site.Land was available
for future residential development on the low hills to the south.During the construction in 1955-56, a
small village of Teke-Humbu residents was relocated to a new site at Mikonga to
make way for the airport.As for the old Ndolo airport, the
planners intended to close it and extend the Boulevard into downtown.

Minister of the Colonies, Van Hemelrijk, visits June 1959

Ndjili International Airport is actually in Nsele Commune, Ndjili
Commune being some 5 kilometers to the west on Boulevard Lumumba.This anomaly derives from the fact that
the unincorporated area east of the city was called “TerritoireSuburbain de
Ndjili” when the airport was built.When Nsele Commune was established in 1967, the new authorities staked
their claim, but the airport continued to be run as an enclave of Ndjili
Commune until 1982.

The new airport served as a splendid showcase for foreign
dignitaries attending Congo’s Independence ceremonies in June 1960.On the eve of Independence, June 29, King
Baudouin arrived and was received by President-designate Joseph Kasavubu and
Prime-Minister designate Patrice Lumumba.Other delegates arrived by air from all over the world, including a
low-level Soviet mission that sought to establish diplomatic relations with the
new nation.

King Baudouin and President Joseph Kasavubu leave the airport June 29, 1960

Within days of Independence, the Congolese army, the Force
Publique (FP), mutinied, provoking a massive exodus of expatriates from the
country.The Belgian airline,
Sabena, pulled all of its aircraft from regular service around the world,
organizing a massive airlift from the former colony.Between July 9-28, Sabena evacuated 25,000 people.When the FP tried to secure the
airport, Belgian paratroops intervened and evicted the Congolese troops. Close-quarter
combat saw grenades tossed in the stairwell leading up to the restaurant (whose
ceiling tiles remained damaged and un-replaced for several years).At the same time, the United Nations,
invited by the Congolese government to intervene in the crisis, began flying in
troops from around the world.The
first 700 Ghanaian soldiers arrived July 15, on British aircraft, while
successive flights of USAF C-130 Hercules delivered 600 Tunisians.With the arrival of UN troops, the
Belgian forces withdrew on July 21.

People awaiting evacuation - July 1960

Belgian paratrooper securing the restaurant terrace - July 1960

The United Nations initially established its air operation at
Ndolo, with 40 pilots and mechanics under the command of the Swedish Air Force
and using spares and equipment left behind by the Belgians.But by September, given security
concerns, the Indian and Italian C-119 Flying Boxcar squadron was transferred
to Ndjili while overall air operations were based out of the massive Kamina
airbase in Katanga.Ndjili had two
large hangars located about 1 kilometer on either side of the terminal.The west hangar housed civil aviation
and the east terminal was taken over by the US military mission.

Prime Minister Lumumba was frustrated by the limitations on his
travel around the country the conflict engendered. He had initially used the
Governor General’s Force Publique DeHavilland Heron, but it was transferred to
Kamina along with other aircraft controlled by Belgians, and eventually formed
the basis of secessionist Katanga’s air force. In mid August, the Soviet Union gave the Congo an Ilyushin-14
piston-engine aircraft for executive use.At the end of the month, as Lumumba made plans to put down the secession
of South Kasai, the Soviets provided another 12 Ilyushins for troop transport,
the first of which arrived at Ndjili September 2.Four days later, the UN closed all airports in the country,
effectively grounding Lumumba’s planes.

The Soviet-donated Ilyushin-14 on the Ndjili airport apron

Ndolo continued to serve as a general aviation airport. When the
Force Publique Aviation was relocated to Ndjili in 1955, a local carrier, called
Air Brousse, was created by 3 pilots in reaction to Sabena’s steep,
monopolistic fares -- the highest in Central Africa.On the eve of Independence Air Brousse had a fleet of 4 DeHavilland
“Dragon Rapide” biplanes and 4 Piper
Tri-pacers.It was an Air Brousse
“Dragon Rapide” that the Congolese
government hired in January 1961 to fly Patrice Lumumba from Thysville (Mbanza
Ngungu) to Moanda to avoid the UN flight restrictions and from there to his
death in Katanga.

Air Brousse De Havilland "Dragon Rapide" at a provincial airport

In January 1961, the Congolese government reached agreement with
Sabena to create a national carrier, Air Congo.In June the new airline was launched, with the Congo
government holding a 65% share, Sabena (which ensured management) 30% and Air
Brousse and Belgian charter airline Sobelair holding the remaining shares.On international flights the Boeing 707
aircraft sported “Air Congo” on the fuselage with a white Sabena “S” on the
tail.

Postage stamp series commemorating the creation of Air Congo

Air Congo Boeing 707 on the tarmac at Ndjili

In January 1962, the Congo constituted its first Air Force unit at
Ndolo (given that secessionist Katanga had acquired the FP planes). The fleet,
including a DC-4 and 3 DC-3s purchased in France, was presented in a ceremony
attended by Mobutu, Prime Minister Adoula, the US Ambassador and US and UK
military attaches. A training school for Congolese pilots was started, but
Congo’s western allies remained concerned about the urgency of rapidly
upgrading the vast country’s air capability. After a western proposal to
retrain the Congolese armed forces using technical assistance from NATO
countries was quashed by the UN, the CIA put together an “instant air force”
staffed by anti-Castro Cubans (many were Bay of Pigs veterans) and others. By
November 1962, the first 6 Cuban pilots sourced from Caribbean Aeromarine (a
subsidiary of Air Panama, incidentally a contractor to the UN’s civilian air
wing) arrived to fly T-6 trainers provided by the US.These assets were used to support the Congolese Army in
operations against rebels in Kwilu province in early 1964.The Italian government also began
training the Congolese air force (See Feb. 20, 2011).With rebels moving
on multiple fronts towards the capital, the government in August created a
paratroop training base at Ndjili (Centre d’Entrainement des Troupes Aéroportées,
CETA) trained by Israelis.The
base was also intended to protect the airport as well as the eastern approaches
of the city.

Early Congolese Air Force crew

Caribbean Aeromarine fighter pilots at Ndolo

Maintenance and operation of the Congolese air force was now ostensibly
under contract to the World International Ground Maintenance Organization (WIGMO),
registered in Lichtenstein in 1964.This was a CIA front company, managed by an American.It hired mercenary pilots and ground
crews.This succeeded the earlier
Caribbean Aeromarine and shared the military hangar at Ndjili with the US Congo
Military Mission (Comish).

WIGMO C-46 transport at Ndolo

In November 1964, Ndjili airport was again the focus of intensive
air operations as aircraft delivering hostages rescued from rebels in
Stanleyville and northeastern Congo arrived.The USAF C-130 fleet which transported the Belgian
paratroopers used in the operation on Stanleyville brought in numerous
evacuees. In a rare lapse of the hyper security that usually maintained at the
airport, access to the apron was open to the general public.

A
civil aviation training institute was established under United Nations auspices
at Ndolo in August 1965.This
would become the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Appliquées - ISTA (See.Aug. 20, 2011).In January 1966, Ndjili was once again the heart of an
airlift operation, this time as the base for fuel deliveries to Zambia after
Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence cut off Zambia’s fuel
supplies.The US contracted with Pan
Am and TWA for two Boeing 707s each to operate twice daily flights to
Lubumbashi from where the fuel was delivered to Zambia by road.Canada also provided Canadair Yukon aircraft
in support of the airlift.The
planes carried cargos of sixty 55 gallon drums on pallets, and the airlift was
expected to deliver 6000 tons of fuel during January and February.

ISTA campus at Ndolo Airport

Otraco opened commuter rail service to Ndjili in 1968, using a
locomotive purchased from France and five cars obtained in the UK.In 1975, the civil aviation agency, the
Regie des Voies Aeriennes (RVA) determined that Ndolo would be reserved for
light aviation and business aircraft, while Ndjili would service domestic, as
well as international flights until a new international airport was built. Ndolo was also the site of the military
airport, Camp Mbaki. That same year, Commissaire Urbain Sakombi Inongo
transferred, temporarily, the established market at Pont Cabu (Pont Kasa Vubu, (see Sep. 12, 2011) to Ave. Lukolela where it
became known as “Somba Zikida”. The Pont Kasavubu market was originally a
temporary location while the Central Market was under construction in 1968, but
the sellers didn’t want to lose their clientele (See. Feb. 6, 2011).

Ndjili Airport Tower 1983 - Air Zaire Boeing 737 on right

Ndjili Airport Terminal entrance 1986

On January 8, 1996, an overloaded Antonov-32 leased by African Air
failed to gain altitude on take-off from Ndolo and crashed into the Somba
Zikida market, killing 237 and injuring another 253 people on the ground when
its full load of fuel exploded.It
remains the highest number of non-passenger casualties of any plane crash
anywhere in the world.The
aircraft was leased from “Mobutu’s banker”, Bemba Saolana’s SCIBE Airlift, and
was carrying arms to UNITA in Angola.

The crash scene of the African Air AN-32 at Somba Zikida Market

A year previously, another Antonov-32 belonging to Miabi Air had
crashed on landing at Ndolo, killing 34 passengers and crew, and in January
1993 an overloaded Trans Service Airlift Nord 262 overran the runway on
take-off, killing 6 on the ground. Concerned about safety of the airport in the
center of an urban area and reacting to world-wide revulsion at the Somba
Zikida crash, the government closed Ndolo airport and civil aviation was transferred
to Ndjili.

Congolese artist Cheri Cherin's deption of the Somba Zikida crash

In September 1996, the Belgian Besix construction firm reportedly
obtained a contract to rehabilitate Ndjili, but this work foundered with the
collapse of the Mobutu Regime the following year.Under Laurent Kabila’s government, Sterling-IGF submitted a
proposal in November 1997 to rehabilitate Ndjili.Any progress on upgrading Ndjili was put on hold following
the Rwandan-led invasion of Congo in August 1998.After an audacious flight across the country from Kigali to
capture the military airport of Kitona on the Atlantic coast, the Rwandans
moved up towards Kinshasa along the railway line from Matadi.They attacked Njdili from Kasangulu on
August 26 and were only repulsed after three days by Congolese and Zimbabwe
Defense Force allies.As the war
continued, Ndjili was a key link in support to operations across a range of
military fronts.In April 2000, a
fire broke out in a warehouse facing the tarmac where ammunition was being
loaded.Four aircraft were
destroyed and over 100 killed.A
huge section of the terminal building was destroyed.

Laurent Kabila’s assassination in January 2001 is generally
acknowledged as the nadir of the new regime.At Ndjili, the airport facilities were decrepit. The check-in area under the graceful shallow
dome was crammed with fences and make-shift counters. South African Airways
pilots regularly warned arriving passengers from Johannesburg that the rumbling
they were about to experience was due to cracks in the deteriorating runway,
not their flying skills.Luggage
belts did not function and travelers were subjected to such harassment from
officials and hangers-on that the hazards of negotiating the Ndjili gantlet was
one of the most common posting about Kinshasa on on-line sites.In 2002, the Italian firm Gestari
opened an office in Kinshasa with the expressed interest in rehabilitating
Ndjili airport.

With the establishment of the transitional coalition government in
2003, pressure mounted to reopen Ndolo airport.The apron at Ndjili was crammed with planes of all sizes,
many of which would often have to be towed aside to allow a new arrival to park
close to the terminal. Transport Minister Olenghankoy announced in September
that Ndolo airport would soon be reopened with support from Belgian Technical
Cooperation.

The new air terminal at Ndolo Airport

Meanwhile, it was reported that South African investors were
proposing to build a new $254 million airport on RVA land across the Boulevard
opposite Ndjili. Considering South
Africa’s own pressing development needs, this proposal did not play will there
and subsequently faded from view.In February 2004, the press reported that a Belgian-based firm had
signed an accord with RVA to rehabilitate the international airport – notably 50
years after Belgium began construction of the original facility (See Apr. 27, 2013).Reaching back with equal proclivity, a delegation of Teke
and Humbu chiefs approached RVA in April for renegotiation of the original 1948
concession on the airport site.

Aircraft crowd the apron at Ndjili

In May 2004, the Council of Ministers approved reopening Ndolo airport
to reduce congestion at Ndjili and in July Minister Olenghanoy formally
reopened the airport. During the national Elections in June 2006, a contingent
of 750 European Union forces (Eufor), deployed to supplement the Monuc force,
established their base at Ndolo.The contingent was supplied with drone aircraft to facilitate monitoring
conditions on the ground.

EUFOR drones at Ndolo airport

Disaster once again scarred Congo’s skies on October 4, 2007 when
an Antonov 26 leased from Malila Airlift by Africa One crashed on take off from
Ndjili into Kingasani Commune killing 28 people on the ground and 21 passengers
and crew.“This happened before”,
lamented the media, recalling the Somba Zikida disaster.The government’s response was to
proscribe use of the outdated and unregistered aircraft that comprised the
domestic airline and charter fleet (all Congolese airlines were already
forbidden to fly to the European Union).

Ndjili Terminal Entrance - 2007

Initiatives to upgrade Ndjili airport continued apace.In May 2009, President Kabila presided
over a ceremony to upgrade and modernize the airport. A “Go Pass” departure fee
was assessed on both domestic and international departures, paid directly to a
bank that had advanced the funds for the rehab work.The improvements targeted the runway as well as a new tower
and terminal.An immediate
priority was preparations for the June 2010 50th anniversary
observance of Independence from Belgium.A VIP lounge was built in the first phase.In 2012, the terminal was further upgraded to prepare for
the Francophonie meetings in December.The colonial era terminal received a bronze glass façade treatment.

Ndjili Airport Terminal makeover

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visits (the new VIP lounge built for Congo's 50th Anniversary in background)

At the end of 2012, RVA awarded a contract to Alpha Airport to put
up a temporary terminal and in February 2013, gave a contract to ADPI-SYSTRA to
conduct a feasibility study for a new terminal, expected to cost $600 million.
In June, Prime Minister Matata Ponyo announced the construction of a $22
million temporary terminal to be put up and operational while the new terminal
is under construction.The rotonde of the main terminal will
continue to be used for domestic flights. During 2014, a resurfaced runway and
a new control tower and attendant fire brigade installations meeting OACI
standards will be put in service.These have been constructed with Chinese and African Development Bank
funding and built by a Chinese company.

An architectural rendering of the new terminal

Proposal for the control tower (under construction)

Ndolo Airport remains an outdated anomaly.Its location in the town center and its
history of catastrophic air disasters makes it a prime candidate for
closure.The vast acreage of prime
developable land in proximity to downtown could provide space for a mixed-use
district providing governmental, commercial, educational (the ISTA campus could
be expanded) facilities and a range of housing options as well as adding much
needed public space. Lelo Nzuzi offers a plan for this. Boulevard Lumumba could
be extended into downtown across two or three connectors to spread the traffic
into key intersections with Boulevard du 30 Juin.At the same time, one of the last vestiges of the colonial
Neutral Zone would be removed from the urban fabric Kinshasa (Camp Kokolo is
another anachronism to be addressed in this equation).Properly and transparently managed, the
sale of this real estate could go a long way in funding the costs of new airport facilities
at Ndjili.